Apple TV gains iTunes account switching, subtitle support

That's in addition to movie times, new screen savers, and more.

The Apple TV has just become slightly less frustrating to use—especially if you use it in a house where there are multiple iTunes accounts. Apple pushed a software update to its set-top box on Monday that brings the ability to easily switch between multiple iTunes accounts, allowing you to purchase or watch TV shows from those accounts without having to re-enter a password every time you switch. The Apple TV also gained support for shared Photo Streams (introduced to iOS devices last week as part of iOS 6), subtitle support for the hard-of-hearing, and a handful of other features.

In addition to the features mentioned above, the Apple TV can now stream AirPlay audio to another Airplay-enabled device (such as external speakers). This could be useful if you have a set of AirPlay-enabled speakers you want to use with a movie but don't have those directly connected to your TV set. You can now also search movie trailers and see show times in local theaters, set up "advanced networking options," and choose a handful of new screen savers. Apple says the update also comes with "general performance and stability improvements."

Monday's update is only supported on Apple's second- and third-generation Apple TVs—if you own an original Apple TV, you'll unfortunately miss out. Still, some of these changes have been a long time coming. Aside from iTunes account switching, support for SDH subtitles has been an oft-requested feature—and may be a sign that Apple is taking its current TV offering more seriously. Users can force the download by going to Settings > General > Update, or just wait until the Apple TV prompts you to perform the update.

39 Reader Comments

Huh, I could have used this update about 3 weeks ago! That's when my wife and I set up a third AppleID just to use for Home Sharing, and allow both our libraries to be viewed on our AppleTV. I just really wish there was a way to combine accounts.

I considered purchasing Apple TV after seeing it at a friends house. I also own an Ipod touch and have some money invested into the ecosystem. However when compared to a WDTV live, I simply couldn't justify buying it. WDTV plays every format known to man, even has support for multiple languages when playing mkv files. I would have had to convert my files into one of the formats that Apple supports and that would have taken too long. In addition, I have all these services I can use on WDTV, Youtube pairing is amazing, and there is subtitle support.

Make no mistake, this kit is really cool. IMHO the AirPlay functionality (both audio and video), Netflix client, Apple "Remote" app, as well as iTunes playback make this a no-brainer for any moderately "Apple" household.

I expect more development in this area moving forward (as most people do with all the hype around the possibility of an actual Apple "TV").

Huh, I could have used this update about 3 weeks ago! That's when my wife and I set up a third AppleID just to use for Home Sharing, and allow both our libraries to be viewed on our AppleTV. I just really wish there was a way to combine accounts.

Yeah, in the name of protecting the interests of third parties (*ahem*moviemusic*cough*) Apple makes it kind of tough to share content. It's not like I'm going to go pass out my AppleID to everyone after I rent a movie. Plus, you can only associate it with a few devices anyway.

Welcome change, but our family is careful to only purchase TV and movie rentals on one account, for this reason specifically =)

Aside from the subtitle support, the ability to stream audio to other Airplay speakers is really nice.

Concerning the comments above regarding the general functionality of the AppleTV, I'll agree that it's not the best device for playing various video formats. I use it almost exclusively to stream audio from an iTunes server and iTouch/iPhones, and for this purpose, it works very well. My one complaint is that there is no Pandora app on the AppleTV.

I also own a WD TV Live, and it works very well for sundry video formats, Hulu, Netflix, and can be controlled with an iOS app. The only drawback I've seen thus far is that it won't play Blu-Ray iso files.

My PS3 still sees vastly more use as a general-purpose media consumption device. The PS3 Netflix and YouTube apps are way better than Apple's sterile list-based navigation; there are Amazon Instant Video, Cinema Now, Hulu Plus and Crunchy Roll apps, unavailable on Apple TV (I only use Amazon Instant Video, but its UI has a lot of pleasing touches); it's a DLNA client, so I can stream music and video from other computers on the network; it plays Blu-Ray, though I haven't used that in months, pretty much since I dropped Netflix disc service; it has NHL Center Ice, MLB.tv apps, both of which Apple TV has, and DIRECTV's NFL Sunday Ticket, which Apple TV lacks (Apple TV has an NBA League Pass app, which is the only one I'm actually interested in!).

The Apple TV is still a "hobby," so much so that I gave mine away. AirPlay is the only distinctive feature it possesses, but I almost never am watching video on an iOS device that isn't coming from a network service and therefore couldn't be directly accessed by a more capable media hub.

To be honest, I'd rather Apple focus on the Apple TV box than building an actual monitor.

How much longer till Safari and an Apple TV App Store happen?

Apple TV's app store won't happen any time soon while Apple is courting Big Content for content. The two are mutually exclusive in that the vast majority of applications would be to curtail advertising or to copy content. Big Content would look at an Apple TV App Store as a liability and walk away from any pending deal.

OMG that is such a welcome change. The current behavior has been driving me absolutely nuts. I was seriously thinking about getting rid of Apple TV because of this. Even better would have been if you could actually connect a bluetooth keyboard.

OMG that is such a welcome change. The current behavior has been driving me absolutely nuts. I was seriously thinking about getting rid of Apple TV because of this. Even better would have been if you could actually connect a bluetooth keyboard.

UPDATE: Eh, the multiple accounts feature leaves a bit to be desired. From what I can tell, the only way to switch accounts is by digging down through Settings > iTunes Store > Accounts.

While it's a step in the right direction, I think it would make better sense to provide a ubiquitous user account toggle throughout the menu experience, and especially in relation to "Movies" and "TV Shows". They could even call it some cool like "Fast User Switching".

How's the mkv situation? Is it possible to play those to the Apple TV yet?

The answer to this is AirPlay from a Mac, once they added this feature, if you own any Mac with AirPlay capabilities (anyone with the latest OS X version), you can watch anything on an Apple TV in the same network

My wife and I share an iTunes account, so this doesn't help us a whole lot.

oluseyi wrote:

AirPlay is the only distinctive feature it possesses, but I almost never am watching video on an iOS device that isn't coming from a network service and therefore couldn't be directly accessed by a more capable media hub.

I don't even own an IOS device, and I use airplay all the time to mirror my Macbook pro screen. I find it very useful, and use it almost as much as the netflix app.

How's the mkv situation? Is it possible to play those to the Apple TV yet?

I have heard that MKVs are playable with XBMC on your Apple TV. I've never tried it though.

If you have an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, you can use something like the Air Video app to play MKV's on the AppleTV. I see the AppleTV as the ultimate IOS accessory rather than a great standalone machine.

How's the mkv situation? Is it possible to play those to the Apple TV yet?

I have heard that MKVs are playable with XBMC on your Apple TV. I've never tried it though.

If you have an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, you can use something like the Air Video app to play MKV's on the AppleTV. I see the AppleTV as the ultimate IOS accessory rather than a great standalone machine.

After buying an ATV2 in january I decided to concentrate all my multimedia on Apple´s ecosystem, after dealing with a Windows HTPC and then DLNA enable devices ("smart" tvs and home theaters) this is by far a better option, it´s not without any problem but is far more stable and easy to set up and run

And with AirPlay there´s really no limitations if you don´t want to convert a particular file

Looks like AirPlay streaming only works for music. Bummer. Couldn't get it to work on a movie.

Only specific Mac models with the newest Intel chips support AirPlay to Apple TV under OSX 10.8. Only a subset of Inel chipsets support the specific GPU function to on the fly convert various video formats to one Apple TV supports.

Confused about subtitles. I'm sure there's already something there along those lines -- don't regularly use it, but I've played with it enough to know that it's there. Can anyone clarify what's new?

SDH subtitles, which stands for Subtitles for the deaf or hard-of-hearing.

Netflix completely lacked subtitles for a long time. I have no idea if Hulu, Amazon, et al. have them.

As these services have grown, pressure to add SDH from interest groups and government regulators has grown as well. Most online/streaming services have been busy adding SDH subtitles for this reason.

For non-English markets subtitles are an essential feature since not all countries dub movie or TV programs.

When iTunes Movies came to Finland earlier this year they were a total bust. Almost no movie available had any Scandinavian language subtitles at all. At least the new releases seem to have Finnish, Swedish, etc now.

Netflix and HBO are coming here next month and supposedly they have subtitle support already. If AppleTV supports those services here they might actually be able to sell a few.

Looks like AirPlay streaming only works for music. Bummer. Couldn't get it to work on a movie.

Only specific Mac models with the newest Intel chips support AirPlay to Apple TV under OSX 10.8. Only a subset of Inel chipsets support the specific GPU function to on the fly convert various video formats to one Apple TV supports.

I'm trying to figure out if there is an issue with Vimeo this morning, or if it is related to the update I allowed. Now 1:3 videos I try to watch I get an immediate 'Vimeo is not available'. Strangely enough, I can back out one level and immediately try to play again and it works. I can repeat this over and over again.

AirPlay is the only distinctive feature it possesses, but I almost never am watching video on an iOS device that isn't coming from a network service and therefore couldn't be directly accessed by a more capable media hub.

I don't even own an IOS device, and I use airplay all the time to mirror my Macbook pro screen. I find it very useful, and use it almost as much as the netflix app.

I hate laptops, and my iMac isn't in the same room as the Apple TV, so mirroring is of zero benefit to me Sure, I could use AirPlay to stream video content from my Mac to the Apple TV, but that leaves playback control on the Mac... which is in another room. DLNA is a superior solution, as it lets me sit back, browse content from the PS3 and control playback where I'm actually consuming.

If I didn't already have a PS3 and cared about live tv, the Boxee would be a no-brainer. That remote, while not the prettiest, is the most interesting approach by far. Pairing my smartphone doesn't work as well, in part because all the smartphone proxy UIs I've seen are kinda ugly.